Abstract

Playful consumption has been an extraordinary phenomenon in the modern era, but little attention has been paid to how likely innovative consumers are to seek to enjoy this particular experience. Using SEM and invariant tests, this paper examines empirically the relationship between Innovativeness, Brand Switching and Playful Consumption with gender and age as moderators. Innovativeness has been found to predict playful consumption and while it also predicts brand switching, interestingly the latter was not found to predict playful consumption. That, for innovative consumers, encountering playfulness is not enhanced by different brands suggests that being able to enjoy playful rewards requires familiarity which is more likely to be provided by on-going rather than new brands. This paper therefore presents a friendly message for marketers: in enjoying playfulness, innovative consumers tend not to switch brand. More theoretical and practical implications, as well as future research are also identified.